TUCSON, Ariz. — The entertainment industry has been hit hard by the pandemic.
Now, casinos are reopening in Southern Arizona with strict new guidelines.
The casinos hope to reassure guests that they won't gamble with their health.
"We want to demonstrate our efforts to our guests, to show them what we're doing, and that we're taking this pretty serious," said Desert Diamond Casino General Manager Daniele Chilton.
Chilton says her staff is making final preparations to open its Tucson and Sahuarita casinos on Friday afternoon.
Casino Del Sol opened back up Wednesday morning.
Both Casino Del Sol and Desert Diamond Casinos will utilize thermal temperature scanners as guest and workers enter the casino.
Guests and workers are all required to wear face masks.
Casino Del Sol moved 200 slot machines into its conference center to create more space for social distancing.
Workers have installed plexiglass dividers between the machines that cannot be moved.
"We've taken great steps to make sure that we've considered every safety protocol that we can think of," said Casino Del Sol Director of Loyalty Marketing Jessica Savare. "We know that we may have missed somethings. We are going to look to our guests and our team members to let us know what we can do to improve."
Desert Diamond Casinos is not moving any slot machines.
"We'll have plexiglass installed for every machine," said Chilton. "That will give us the opportunity to offer a hundred percent games online for our guests to play."
Desert Diamond and Casino Del Sol have also installed plexiglass to separate players from dealers at the blackjack and poker tables.
Both have also opted to keep their buffets closed during the first phase of reopening.
Casino Del Sol said they will also watch for any area of the casino that becomes overcrowded.
"We are also going to have a heavy management presence on the floor throughout each day, to help us determine if an area is too crowded," said Savare. "We'll try to disperse some of the crowd to different areas of the property."
Casino Del Sol is back open.
Both of Desert Diamond's two Southern Arizona locatons will open June 5 at 1 p.m.
